The End of Us
by MichaelCLoftisjourrapide.com
Summary: Life in Jackson is great. Ellie is able to live her teenage years and Joel is able to settle down and take a break. Everything is perfect. But when Davids brother, Peter, moves next door to Joel and Ellie, he instantly knows who she is. He wants revenge for what she did to his older brother and wants to succeed where David failed. Will he succeed? Find out! (expect weekly updates)
1. Prologue

"Ellie? Come on you go to get up, you gotta go to school" Joel said shaking her arm. Ellie's eyes slowly opened then quickly shut, rejecting the early morning light. "I don't wanna" she whimpered into her pillow "Well you have to go to school" Joel countered back. Ellie slowly sat up on her bed and looked at Joel who was now leaving the room. "Get ready, breakfast is ready" Joel stated, and left her room shutting her door behind him. Ellie sat there on her bed still trying to wake up, she got up, got dressed. This has become an everyday routine for them now that they have been living in Jackson for over two months. Since they settled down, life has been better than both Ellie and Joel could have expected. Ellie went to school, made new friends, and was able to live her teenage years. Joel worked at the power plant with his brother, Tommy. Life was good. Ellie opened her door and started to walk towards the kitchen; still struggling to keep her eyes open. She saw a plate on the counter with eggs, bacon, and a piece of toast. The aroma of it was more than enough to make her instantly feel awake. Joel was standing behind the counter with a mug in his hand. "Mornin' sleepy" he greeted. Ellie looked at him trying not to smile at his remark. She grabbed the plate off the counter and placed it on the dining table. She sat down and started to eat the scrumptious breakfast. "You seem quite today" Joel said sitting down next to her setting his mug on the table. "Just sleepy" she responded looking at him.

"Well, I got you a present... If you are awake enough to open it." Ellie head darted up from the table to look at Joel with a curious look on her face. "Yes of course!" she responded smiling. "Stay here, I'll be back" Joel said while getting up from the table. Ellie watched Joel walk into the hallway entry, she could not figure out what Joel had gotten her, or why. It was not a special day it was just like any other weekday morning. Joel walked back towards the table carrying a long slim box. Ellie looked at him as he set it on the table in front of her. "What is it?" "Open it and find out" Joel said smiling. She opened one end of the box trying to look at what was inside. She reached in and pulled out a set of arrows. Her eyes widened accompanied by an enormous smile. "No way" she started, looking them over. She set them down on the table and got up to hug Joel. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" she said hugging him as hard as he could. "No problem baby girl" he said hugging her back. She let go of him and sat back down still smiling. Joel laughed under his breath, he knew that Ellie had been waiting arrows for quite sometime after she broke the last of hers practice shooting. "You better start heading to school, Ellie." She looked up from the arrows to meet his gaze. "Oh, right" she said putting an arrow back on the table. "See you after school" She said getting up from the table. "Bye" Joel said as she reached for the front door. "Bye" she said back smiling. Today was a starting to be a great day.


	2. Chapter 2 - The Arrows

_**If you didn't read the prologue I would recommend doing so :) - Michael**_

Ellie sat at school, taping her pencil repeatedly against her desk. She had been watching the clock for what seemed like forever, waiting for the bell to ring."Ellie?" Her eyes darted away from the clock towards the person calling her name. It was Charlie, a blonde, tall, blue eyed,15 year old boy that Ellie had become good friends with. "What?" she whispered back. "You eager to get out of class? You've been staring at the clock for the past five minutes." She rolled her eyes and looked back at the clock. All she wanted to do was go home and shoot her bow now that she had arrows; but class now seemed to be ten times longer than normal. "Is that a yes?" Charlie continued. Ellie turned her head to face him "Yes, I want to get out of here." she replied making it seem like a painfully obvious answer. "Why?" he insisted "Why do you care?" she countered. "I just was cur..." Charlie was cut off by the sound of the bell ringing. Ellie quickly grabbed her backpack and headed out the door, not waiting for Charlie to finish his sentience. She managed to squeeze through the mob of kids that where flooding the small hallway, and out the doors. As soon as she stepped outside she was greeted with warm afternoon sun, a perfect day to go shooting. She fallowed the dirt road up all the way up the hill to where their house was. Ellie unlocked and opened the door and stepped inside, and set her backpack down, shutting the door behind her.

"Joel?" no answer, "Hello? Anyone?" the house remained silent. "Where is he?" she said under her breath. Ellie continued to walk across the living room towards the kitchen, and saw a piece of paper on the counter, that she proceeded to pick it up and read it. _Dear Ellie, I have to help Tommy out at the power plant tonight. I will be home sometime tonight, don't do anything stupid while I'm gone. - Jo_el "Thanks Joel" Ellie said sarcastically while setting the note back down; her head looked back at the dining table hoping to find the arrows she left there that morning; nothing. Ellie walked into her room, hoping to find them there. On the her bed where the arrows, tied together with a string. Ellie picked them up, and couldn't help but smile that she could finally shot her bow again. Clenching the arrows in her hand she picked up her bow, next to her night table, and walked back into the living room. The house seemed unusually quiet, no a single sound could be heard besides her own breath and footsteps. The emptiness made her feel uneasy, she hated being alone. She picked up her backpack, put the arrows in, strapped her bow to the side and put it on. "Ok" she whispered to herself and turned to open the front door. The warm mountain afternoon air hit her, making a smile creep across her face. Ellie turned around and locked the door, and started walking out of their yard towards the old barn down the street, perfect place for shooting. She approached the barn, and took notice to the plants wrapping themselves around the old rotten wood; the rusted metal roof sinking into the interior. The depressing building make her picture what it looked like before the outbreak. Despite the mournful thought, she pulled out her bow and an arrow. She drew it back holding her breath, taking aim at the center of the hay bail. The bowstring accelerated forward, hurdling the arrow towards the hay in a split second. "Ah, dang it" Ellie uttered to herself in disappointment in regards of the arrow sticking out of the lower right corner of the hay. Had she really lost that much skill in the past month?

She drew another arrow determined to get an accurate shot this time. Holding her breath, trying not to move. "Hey Ellie!" She lowered the bow glancing back at who called her name; it was Charlie. He continued to walk towards her, smiling; "What are you doing?" "What does it look like Charlie? I'm practicing my archery skills dumb-nut." "Not to good at it" he responded while pointing at the arrow in the hay. "What ever, better then you could ever do." "That's probably true, I've never shot a bow" Ellie had a puzzled look on her face, has he really never shot a bow? "Oh..." she started, regretting of he earlier remark "want to try and shoot?" Charlie looked up trying to hold back his smile "Yea, of course!" She handed over the bow and gave him an arrow, "Just don't fuck it up, ok?" Ellie joked "I'll try." He pulled the arrow back, Ellie could already see multiple things wrong with his posture. "Hold up" Charlie stopped and looked at her questionably "I didn't even shoot yet" he protested. "I know, your posture is wrong." Ellie grabbed his wrist and moved it up slightly; "Ok, straiten your back" Charlie re-positioned himself; "Better?" "Much" Ellie smirked. Charlie looked back at the hail bail, holding his breath taking aim. He released the bowstring propelling the arrow at the hay full speed. "Little low..." Ellie commented "...but not bad." Charlie looked at his shot for a while, then turned to Ellie "Better than you." he said jokingly. Ellie shook her head at his remark, "I bet I could out shoot you any day. In fact lets have a shoot off." He looked at her, then at the ground, "Ellie, this is the worst mistake of your life" "We'll see" She pointed to a big maple tree across a fence in a field. "Who ever hits the tree, wins" Charlie looked to where she was pointing. "That tree is at least 30 feet away" he argued. "What, scared your gonna lose?" there was a short pause before Charlie responded "Fine, first one to hit the tree" he mumbled. Ellie handed him a small bunch of arrows. He pulled back the bowstring and took aim, holding his breath. "Don't mess up" Ellie whispered. He let go of the bowstring sending the arrow flying trough the air. "Where did it go?" Ellie asked. "No idea" he responded, sounding disappointed. He drew back another arrow, took aim, and sent it flying in the direction of the tree. "This is a horrible target, you can't see where the arrows even go" he testified. "Here, let the pros show you how its done." Ellie said while snatching the bow from him. She took an arrow and pulled it back. "Posture's wrong" Charlie yelled. Ellie shook her head and refocused. She let go of the string catapulting the arrow forward, and disappeared in the distance. "Ah, can't see shit." "Let me try again." Ellie handed him the bow and stepped back. "Lets try and hit that tree" he gestured towards aspen 10 feet away. "That's to close" Ellie argued, but it was too late he already took a shot at it, fallowed by a snap. Ellie's eyes widened and turned to face Charlie "I swear if you broke one of my arrows your so dead." They walked towards the tree only to find the tail of an arrow. "You fucking ass" Ellie complained, picking up the tail "You owe me an arrow." Charlie looked at the tail then back at Ellie.

"Tell you what, you hit this tree I will buy you a new arrow." Ellie contently looked at him, then to the arrow tail. "Ok, I'll take that bet" she said walking to where he fired from. She stopped an turned to face the tree, pulled the bow up, took aim and fired. A muffled crack echoed from the tree. "Damn it, broke one" "Well we've managed to lose three arrows and break two" Charlie concluded. Ellie looked at him puzzled "Lost three?" "Yea, when we where shooting at the tree out in the field no way could you find an arrow in that tall grass." Ellie burrowed her face into her hands "Joel is gonna kill me" she whimpered. "Why would he do that?" Charlie asked trying to comfort her. "Its not exactly easy or cheap to get arrows these days, he gave me seven as a gift and we lost five. FIVE!" "Wow, calm down I know for a fact Joel will not kill you. He might be upset, but he's not gonna be super angry." "Maybe your right" Ellie agreed. There was a long pause, all you could hear was the wind whipping through the valley before it was interpreted by Charlie. "Well I better get home before it get completely dark" he said while standing up. "Yea me too" Ellie agreed. "I'll see ya tomorrow, Ellie." She nodded and watched him walk off. She got up and started to walk home too, she knew one thing tonight was going to be interesting. She approached the front door, unlocked it, and stepped inside. She saw Joel in the kitchen, as she shut the door it got his attention. "Where where you at?" Joel turned to Ellie putting her stuff down by the door. "Out practice shooting, I need more arrows." Joel stopped leaning on the counter and stood up with a puzzled look on his face. "But you had 7 of em" he responded. "Yea, I know but I broke a few" "A few huh? How many is a few?" He started to slowly walk to her, raising an eyebrow. She wouldn't meet his gaze, and looked at her shoes instead. "Fiv..." she muttered under her breath. "Couldn't hear you" Joel responded, she looked up at him seeing he was getting much enjoyment from this. "Five" she repeated. Dead silence followed, Joel giving a slightly mad look at Ellie, and she did puppy dog face right back. "How on earth did you manage to break five arrows in an hours time?" Ellie's eyes searched the room as if there would be a answer written on the walls or ceiling.

She finally looked back to Joel in an attempt to save herself "It wasn't my fault, I swear!" "It wasn't?" Joel replied "Then what did happen?" There was a few seconds pause before she responded "It was Charlie, I was showing him how to use a bow and he broke a few arrows." Joel knew this all to well, Charlie, Ellie's crush ever since they started living in Jackson. Joel pondered on what he should say, he knew he could catch her in this lie or play along. "Charlie, that boy you've been dating?" "We're not dating Joel, he wanted to learn so I thought I would be nice a teach him." Joel had made up his mind and decided to play along, only half way though. "Ok, then I am sure he would be more than willing to help me out with getting more arrows." He could tell from Ellie's expression that her heart sank. Joel proceeded to walk to the door. "Joel you don't have to do it right now, I mean I could tell him tomorrow at school." Joel put on is worn leather jacket, grabbed his boots and started to tie them. "Nah, it's fine could use some fresh air anyways." " I did it." Ellie said. Joel looked up from tying his boots to Ellie's face. "Did what?" "I broke the arrows." Joel stood up, one boot on the other off. "Why would you lie to me?" Ellie could tell by the tone of his voice he was disappointed in her. "I didn't... I just extended the truth." Joel walked up to her. "Wouldn't it have just been easier to tell me that?" She looked at the ground then back to him "Maybe. I just wanted you to not get mad at me." Joel had a puzzled look on his face, he knew Ellie was lying, but he didn't expect her to say that.

Ellie started to walk towards the living room and plopped down onto the couch. "Mad at you? I mean, already knew you were a crappy shot." He joked, which earned him a death glare from Ellie. "Haha very funny" she replied sarcastically resting her head on her arm. "I thought so." Joel responded and moved towards the couch and sat next to her. "I do believe there is more reason to why you lied" Joel looked intently at her hoping he would be able to find out what was going on, "Their just arrows" he continued. Ellie let let out a deep sigh and looked at him "You're right there is more to the story" Joel leaned back against the couch ready for the hour long speech he was about to get. "Go on then, tell me" Ellie turned her body to face Joel pulled her legs up and wrapped her arms around them "Where to start..." she whispered under her breath. "Well after you left to go help with the power plant I went out shooting, while I was there I was shooting at the hay bail outside that old barn down the road. I was having fun doing that when I heard a voice from behind me. It was Charlie, we talked for a little bit then we..." "Un-uh, give me the details on what you two said" Joel asked. "Joel we didn't say anyth..." "I don't care I want to hear it" re-enforcing his statement. "Fine" Ellie sighed "So I heard him call out from behind me and we started talking, he said 'hey, Ellie what are you up to' and I told him I was practicing my shooting skills. He shot a bow so I asked if he wanted to try shooting my bow." Joel looked at her "This seems pretty normal to me." "Hold on I'm getting there" Ellie replied. "He shot a few arrows and he did break an arrow on his 5th or 6th shot.

After a while we just started messing around and tried to hit these hay trees. Which resulted five lost or broken arrows." Ellie clenched her arms around her legs tighter, laying her head on her knees. "So what I'm hearin' is that you and your boyfriend went around shooting arrows left and right?" Ellie lifted her head and gave Joel a death look, for the second time. "I just..." she started then cut off. She took her feet off the couch and placed them on the floor. "Why do you think me and him are dating?" she looked at him questioningly. "I don't, you just get super defensive anytime I say that so I do it anytime I get the chance." Ellie sighed at his response and shook her head "You're ridiculous." She stood up, stretched, yawned and looked back at Joel "Well I'm off to bed." He nodded and watched her walk into the hall entry way. He looked in front of him at the plasma TV sitting across the room covered in dust. He heard Ellie's door shut."They are so dating" He mumbled to himself while taking off his boot.

_**What did you guys think about the first real chapter? Please comment and tell me :). Also if your wondering Peter is likely to be introduced next chapter; had to introduce Charlie first though. - Michael **_


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